Republicans Slam President Joe Biden's Victory Lap Over Death of Al Qaeda's Top Leader Ayman al-Zawahri

Republicans are criticizing President Joe Biden for cheering the assassination of Al Qaeda's top commander, claiming that his 'disastrous retreat' from Afghanistan cleared the path for the group's resurgence.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took over the terrorist organization after its founder, Osama bin Laden, died in a CIA drone attack in Kabul on Sunday. Biden expressed optimism on Monday that al-killing Zawahiri's will provide 'another measure of closure' to families of 9/11 victims, which he helped orchestrate.

GOP Reacts to Killing of Alman al-Zawahiri

The president said that al-Zawahiri will "never again allow Afghanistan to become a terrorist haven because he is gone," and vowed that his government will "make certain that nothing else occurs." House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, on the other hand, blamed Biden's failed escape from the Taliban-ruled country on the "potential re-emergence of Al Qaeda," claiming the US must take steps to prevent terrorists from entering the country.

GOP Sen. Marjorie Taylor Greene echoed McCarthy's sentiment, saying that even Americans will be relieved al-Zawahiri is dead, and that "Joe's victory lap is ridiculous."

Al Qaeda leader Zawahiri has been killed in a CIA led air strike.

Zawahiri is credited in planning 9-11 & attack on the USS Cole, but most Americans don’t know or have forgotten who he is, but once they know they will be glad he’s dead.

But Joe’s victory lap is ridiculous.

1/5
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) August 1, 2022

Meanwhile, 9/11 organizations and families of victims are celebrating al-death, Zawahiri's but argue that those who plotted the attacks must face greater accountability.

During a White House address on Monday evening, Biden announced that al-Zawahiri was killed in a US drone strike in Kabul on Sunday, an operation he praised for bringing "justice." US intelligence tracked al-Zawahiri to a downtown Kabul residence owned by a major assistant to senior Taliban commander Sirajuddin Haqqani, where he was hiding out with his family.

However, opponents of Biden believe that the drone strike exposes the president's inability to confront terrorism and his outright lying to the American people, noting earlier remarks he made asserting that Al Qaeda was not present in Afghanistan, according to Daily Mail.

In a nighttime address from the White House, President Obama stated that US intelligence personnel tracked al-Zawahri to a residence in downtown Kabul where he was hiding out with his family. The procedure was approved by the president last week and carried out on Sunday.

Al-Zawahri and the more well-known Osama bin Laden organized the 9/11 attacks, which introduced many ordinary Americans to al-Qaida for the first time. On May 2, 2011, Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan in a US-led operation. Navy SEALs have been apprehended following a nearly decade-long quest.

According to five persons familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the strike was carried out by the CIA. Neither Biden nor the White House elaborated on the CIA's role in the operation. Al-Zawahri's death eliminates the individual who formed al-Qaida more than anyone else, first as bin Laden's deputy since 1998, then as his successor. Together, he and bin Laden turned the Islamic movement's firearms on the United States, carrying out the worst attack on American soil - the Sept. 11 suicide hijackings.

According to a senior intelligence officer, the residence Al-Zawahri was in when he was murdered was owned by a major adviser to senior Taliban commander Sirajuddin Haqqani. A CIA ground team and aircraft reconnaissance following the drone operation verified al-death. Zawahri', AP News reported.

Who Is Ayman al-Zawahri?

Ayman al-Zawahiri was born in 1951 in Cairo, Egypt. He came from a well-to-do family of professors and physicians. His grandfather was the grand imam of al-Azhar, the Middle East's center of Sunni Islamic study, and one of his uncles was the Arab League's first secretary-general.

Zawahiri grew interested in political Islam while still in high school. He joined Egypt's oldest, biggest, and illegal Muslim Brotherhood at the age of 15, for which he was subsequently incarcerated. He followed in his family's footsteps and became an Egyptian doctor, opening a medical clinic in Cairo.

Since he was a youngster, Zawahiri had an extremely strong extremist attitude. This is why he was drawn to Islamist organizations seeking to destabilize Egypt's government. In 1973, he joined the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist organization.

In the 1980s, Zawahiri was imprisoned for his role in militant Islam. He was initially accused of involvement in the assassination of President Anwar Sadat but was subsequently exonerated. He was, nevertheless, convicted of illegally possessing weapons. According to other Islamist detainees, Zawahirir was tortured and brutally punished by jail officials. This encounter seemed to have shaped him into a violent zealot.

After his release in 1985, he fled Egypt and became active in worldwide jihadist groups. Zawahiri established a section of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad terrorist group in Afghanistan. In the country, he also worked as a doctor, as per USA Today.